Adjusting handbrake

[SwirlyE30]

Right guys, after all this time thinking my handbrake is shit( which i know E30' ones generally are) i managed to pull some ok turn in the wet on my way home at lunch today, so i wanna try and tighten it up, make there less pull before it kicks in, is it easy to adjust?

I can get my car on the ramp after work and have a tinker, just wondered if its easy enough to adjust it, quick replies would be great!

cheers guys

[martinclan]

The adjustment tn the handbrake is just supposed to be to take the slack out of the handbrake cable. Adjustment of the handbrake itself should be done at the brake shoes. The theory is - if you take a rear wheel off you can poke a screwdriver through one of the holes for the wheel bolts and click a small ratchet that expansd the brake shoes. In practice not that easy... Suggest you try and take a look at a workshop manual or the ETK to see what I mean.

Cheers

Robin

[Lordschleife]

I had to do this last w/e after replacing the rear pads/discs
Its a bit of a sod trying to see the adj. wheel through the hole, plus one of mine had seized and needed loosening up with pliers/wd-40 (disc off) so you could adjust through the hole with a screwdriver

I found it easiest to adjust it as far as possible outwards before putting the discs on (so they'd only just fit) then you don't need to turn the adjusting screw too much through the hole

They don't have a great deal of power anyway if you're thinking of using for handbrake turns etc

[SwirlyE30]

Cheers guys. I tightened up the slack quite a bit as far as the handbrake cable/lever goes, so its s short pull now. It works ok int he wet which is all im concerned about.


Another thing, if u adjust it too much at the two 10mm nuts near the lever does it efect anything else? i always get paranoid after doing somthing, and after a trip round the block, i dont think it drives the same lol

[AndyTouring]

If you adjust too much at the handbrake cable you'll end up stretching the cable.

Back the handbrake cables right off. Raise the rear of the car, take one wheel bolt out of each rear wheel & spray brake cleaner in at approx. 11 o'clock drivers side & 1 o'clock passenger side. That should clean up the adjuster enough to see it. Adjust each side until it's just starting to bind. Now apply the handbrake 3 clicks & adjust until you can't turn the wheels any more.

Test dive around the block pulling on the hand brake to test. You shouldn't be able to get more than 4 - 5 clicks on the handbrake.

If you want to do the job properly, take the discs off & clean the h/brake shoes & linkage. Also lube the adjuster threads with coppaslip.